Canberra, September 26: Scientists have said that using kangaroo bones, they could help solve the mystery behind the population explosion of the Aborigines in Australia some 5,000 years ago.

Aborigines arrived 45,000 years ago, spreading across the continent with startling rapidity. Then, in anthropological terms, they cooled their heels for the next 40,000 years: no significant population expansion and no fundamental changes in lifestyle.

Canberra, September 26 : New fossils of the first land animals have revealed that ancient shores, 500 million years ago, were alive with more crawling, slithering creatures than anyone previously thought.

According to a report by ABC News, researchers found fossil evidence that slug-like molluscs had slithered through the tidal flats towards land.

In the late Cambrian era, nearly 500 million years ago, the seas were teeming with life. Food was abundant, but so were predators.

Palaeontologists believe animals fled the marine environment for the safe confines of tide pools, and ultimately dry land, where they could live without fear of being eaten.

Canberra,
September 25: A tiny colony of yeast trapped inside a Lebanese weevil
covered in ancient Burmese amber for up to 45 million years, has been
brought back to life in barrels of modern beer.

According to a
report by ABC News, Emeritus Professor Raul Cano of the California
Polytechnic State University, originally extracted the yeast a decade
ago, along with more than 2000 different kinds of microscopic
creatures.

Today, Cano uses the reactivated yeast to brew barrels of pale ale and German wheat beer.

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Canberra, September 22: Australia’s iconic koala may be heading towards extinction, unless there are changes in how populations are managed.

“Previously hunted to near extinction in the 1920s, the species continues to face ongoing threats to its survival today,” Zoologist and author Stephen Jackson told The Age.

“The loss of habitat and urban development, the increase of disease, the potential harm of climate change and attacks from other animals all impact the survival of the koala,” he added.

Canberra, September 22 : Researchers at the CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems in Canberra have determined that biofuels made from the stubble left over from harvesting wheat grains could replace around one fifth of the volume of petrol used in Australia.

According to a report in ABC News, Dr Michael Dunlop of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems said that based on 2001 figures, the 10 main grain crops of Australia produce about 65 million tonnes of stubble.

He said that much of this needs to be left in the ground to protect soil, retain soil carbon and reduce evaporation.

This would leave just under fifteen million tonnes of remaining stubble to be distributed in a way that is economically viable to collect.

Canberra, September 20 : South Asia’s tourism industry is in jeopardy, with reports indicating that the endangered Great One-horned Rhinoceros is in dire straits in Nepal.

According to a report carried out in www. news. com. au, the Rhino is being driven out of its natural habitat in search of food into the hands of illegal poachers.

A meeting of the Asian Rhino Specialist Group in Nepal said that the massive animal’s feeding grounds were being invaded by “exotic species” of weeds and wild plants and the rhino could soon run out of natural fodder.